ABC's comedy lineup is working like a charm and it's due to some serious cohesion to the night. The cohesion happens here thanks to the new entries at 8:30pm and 9:30pm. At 8:30pm, The Goldbergs is shining it its second season. For three straight weeks, it has built on The Middle in the demo. Since The Middle took over at 8pm in the Fall of 2010, only Suburgatory in its first season managed to do that. And that show disappeared in its second season. The Goldbergs already has an established audience so I don't expect things to fall apart. At 9:30pm, Black-ish is the strongest 9:30pm occupant ABC has had. Since their comedy block began in 2009, the problem has always been finding a lead-out to megahit Modern Family. Take a look at how the lead-out shows have done out of Modern Family in their third week following a new episode of Family. This is based on retention percentage:
Cougar Town (Fall 2009): 94%
Mr. Sunshine (Spring 2011): 54%
Happy Endings (Fall 2011): 54%
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (Spring 2012); 56%
Suburgatory (Fall 2012): 57%
How to Live with Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life (Spring 2013): 58%
Super Fun Night (Fall 2013): 51%
Mixology (Spring 2014): 44%
Black-ish (Fall 2014): 80%
Except for Cougar Town, which was actually just as strong early on and out of the gate hotter than Family, everything has been below 60% retention by its third time following a new Modern Family. Black-ish was at 80%. Pretty impressive, indeed. Too bad it took ABC six years to find a solid family comedy for the 9:30pm slot.
BAD WEEK: CBS AT 10PM
CBS is having a pretty decent fall. They have some solid new dramas in Scorpion, NCIS: New Orleans, and Madam Secretary. Even with blowouts, football has been good to them. The Big Bang Theory remains the top demo draw. But 10pm is a problem to varying degrees on every single night except Thursday with football (and that will change when Elementary returns). On Mondays, NCIS: Los Angeles has made an unimpressive move to the night. Though it is up from last year's duds, everyone expected better and the lead-in has been surprisingly strong. On Tuesdays, Person of Interest is exploring new lows and getting handily beat by Chicago Fire in the hour. On Wednesdays, Stalker is already down to a 1.7 demo in its second week. Fridays aren't as big a problem but Blue Bloods has never been a game-changer. On Sundays, CSI is hitting new series lows in a weak move to a new night. CBS has some things on the bench, but I also think they really have to patient with a lot of these and just deal with it. They're pretty strong at 9pm across the board but 10pm is suffering. I have to wonder if they should have moved Interest to Mondays and NCIS: Los Angeles to 10pm Tuesdays. Then they could have branded it as an NCIS night like ABC did with Shondaland Thursdays. I don't Person of Interest would do any worse than Los Angeles is, and might be a better fit with the geeky Scorpion.
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